The LGBTQQIA community has struggled for equality for decades, but it isn't until recently that our community has begun to gain some solid ground.

2009 has seen recognition from Congress like never before, with legislation aimed directly at granting us our equality;

HR 1283 - Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 - Introduced in March
HR 3017 - Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 - Introduced in June
HR 3567 - Respect for Marriage Act of 2009 - introduced in September
HR 3827 - Every Child Deserves a Family Act - Introduced in October

We can't depend on our congressional representatives to come to their senses on their own, we have to make it known that we demand these bills pass through the House and Senate. This isn't to say that we haven't seen a great amount of support from the House and Senate already!

One thing that this generation has to remember is the blood, sweat, and tears that previous generations have put into the fight for equality. As we move forward, it's important that we value their efforts because without the pioneers of the 60's and beyond, we wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

This President has already removed the traveling restrictions against HIV positive people, and has made statements that show support for our equality.

Standing together and stannding strong is the only way that our generation will make our previous generations proud, the time for unity and action is now.

Bless God and Bless the Gays

In the house this week, 3 congressmen and women will be presenting a bill that would call for the repeal of the Defense Of Marriage Act, DOMA, a policy that has been violating the LGBT community's rights since 1996. This is not the first attempt that has been made to take down the discriminatory legislation, but I hope that it will be the last.

The consevatives have hi-jacked the moral fiber of the nation! I mean, there are the great moral leaders such as...

John Ensign of Nevada (way to defend marriage from the gays by sleeping with another woman)
Larry Craig of Idaho (a men's bathroom playmate)
Mark Foley of Florida (the alleged child molester and soon to be radio host)
Michael Duvall of California (big sex talker that blames the media for what HE said)
Paul Stanley of Tennesse (another defender of marriage by sleeping around, then his mistress's boyfriend threatened to post naughty picutres of the senator on the internet unless the then senator gave him $10,000) <- per Huffington Post
Mark Sanford of South Carolina (defending marriage with his Agentinian mistress)

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the opponents we face are righteous and valiant but we will overcome.

Come on... If those guys are what we're up against, they wouldn't stand a chance if the LGBT community took a united stand for equality against them! Get on your congresspeople's nerves with all the emails and letters that you and your friends write!

Go to www.senate.gov and look under "Senators" in the top left section to find your state's senators
Go to www.house.gov and look under "Representatives" on the left hand side to find your state's congresspeople

It's the easiest way that you can make a difference.

God bless America

The month of August started off rocky for the LGBT community as 3 young people were murdered in Tel Aviv after an attack on an LGBT community center.

Lets get to the have beens...

-We were all entrenched to our eyeballs in healthcare reform, everywhere you turned people are talking about reform pro's and con's. We're not going to get away from this one for quite a while so I'm also including this one in the should be's and will be's... fyi.
-The great debate over Sonia Sotomayor came to a close with her being confirmed to the Supreme Court... the conservatives had little to say once they knew they lost this one. Great day for women and minorities everywhere.
-Bill Clinton was making headlines again after his rescure of two journalists from North Korea's grips.
-The Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America (ELCA) voted to allow gays in commited relationships to serve as ministers!

On to the should be's...

-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's senate race is ratcheting up against him, Nevadans should take a close look at how or why they should support Harry Reid's bid in 2010.
-Talk about the equality march with all of your friends, because it's a big deal and it should be treated as such!
-On the lighter side, you should check out the episode of Family Guy that's being talked about with Rush Limbaugh... what a jokester that rush. :(
-Keep an eye on Iran, because the people rose up this summer so there's bound to be more trouble ahead.
-Like I said earlier, talk about healthcare because everyone else will be!

Finally to the will be's...

-I've looked into my crystal ball and I see more talks about healthcare reform, should we overhaul the entire system or just make the proper adjustments?
-Look for possible ways that the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy will affect that debate on either side of the aisle
-We're all going to be talking about gay rights! Support your brothers and sisters by attending the Equality March this October!

Those are my thoughts this time around, let me know if you disagree or if you think I missed something.

Citizenzero

P.S.
I get the feeling that we're all going to start thinking locally again when it comes to entertainment, dining, and politics so get informed on what's cool, what's good, and what's going on.

Recently, it was made public that the Obama administration is looking to uphold the status quo in regards to the Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA, in a new briefing released regarding the California legislation against gay marriage. We all know that perhaps I'm beating a dead horse on this issue, but this is a horse that should be beaten to a bloody pulp until it gets taken care of... I've written about the significance of "seperate but equal" in this country before and the invalid status it carries, yet millions of Americans still choose this practice for the LGBT community. In 2009, we are left with the option of seperate but equal or nothing!

In Nevada, Domestic Partnerships are finally legal and the first permits will be handed out on October 20th... this is a great victory for the community in Nevada and it's welcomed news to the thounsands of LGBT members in the state; shouldn't legislation go further to protect our civil rights though? Why should any one couple be held to a different standard? Domestic Partnerships are a valued commodity in today's LGBT reality, and it's a small step on the road to equality... I just never would have thought that the liberal president in office would be just as condemning as dubya... (George W. Bush... my best friend)

Congress has been given the signal to wait it out and see how the chips fall when it comes to DOMA... let the states fight it out, I'm sure that equality will come from the states first. Just like racial equality and women's rights did, I'm sure they will. The go ahead has been officialy given for Congress to turn a blind eye to the issues of the gay community... Congress and this President better pick their battles more wisely unless they want a black eye in 2010 and 2012.

We should demand to be taken more seriously as a demographic...

God bless America I suppose...

I was recently having a discussion with one of my straight friends about politics, and I found out some interesting things that I didn’t know before…

I was over at his house and like I had mentioned, we were discussing politics, something that I find myself doing quite often with almost anyone that will have me. Well, we began discussing how I thought President Obama was doing in office, and I’ve said it before that it is our right to disagree with the president if something he’s doing doesn’t rub us the right way. We may disagree on a few key items like gay rights, full disclosure terms, as well as national security; however, I still know that he’s doing a better job than McCain/Palin would have done. I’m a Democrat through and through. That’s fine, we discussed why I had my opinions of the president, and we both went back and forth on the wars, what happened there, why we’re still there, and why Afghanistan is going to keep getting worse/whether or not our allies will support our mission in that country.

We share similar ideas about politics and how it should work for the people instead of against, because we also went into great detail over the new healthcare legislation that President Obama is trying to get passed. We both agreed that people should be allowed to keep what coverage they have now if they want, that small businesses shouldn’t be overburdoned with having to provide their employees with benefits (price tag for small business benefits shouldn’t bee too high if possible), and that we should increase the taxes on the wealthy in order to help fund this project… sounds good to me so far.

Then we moved into my favorite topic… gay rights, the grand daddy of them all. Here, I was a little taken back that we differed in our views somewhat. When I discuss gay rights, I tend to take the argument back to the civil rights era of the late 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s, because that’s when the women’s lib movement captivated the national arena, blacks took the stage and demanded equality and an end to discrimination, and the gays began to make their move for a piece of the same pie. I discussed how blacks and women were treated as being inferior to white males in their respective ways; I brought up some of the large organizations that represented each of the groups and why they either were or weren’t successful…

We were together all the way up to this point, and then things went askew…

I went into the fact that women’s place in society was that of a subservient housewife, and that blacks were seen as inferior, second class citizens to whites… then he chimed in; “I honestly don’t think that gays are being treated as if they’re inferior.”

I took that in for a second…

How could someone see the current state that our community’s in and not think that we’re being treated unfairly and less than equals to the heterosexual majority? Like I said, I took that in for a second before responding… I then asked him if he thought it was okay for blacks to be forced to sit at the back of the bus, I mean, they at least got to ride didn’t they? He responded with a confused tone, saying that it wasn’t the same thing… I didn’t get upset because anger only makes a situation like that hostile and can damage friendships, so then went into the larger cases and key points that the gay community was fighting for, marriage and the rights that go along with it, don’t ask don’t tell, and the social change that needs to be accomplished in order for all of those to come to fruition.

In my personal opinion, our community is fighting for our civil rights, to get the same rights that all other Americans get to enjoy, the same rights that other minorities had been denied in the past. Interracial marriage was against the law at one point, women weren’t offered protection in the workplace, nor were they allowed the same job opportunities as men throughout history and the early 20th century. I bring up the other civil rights movements because I feel that we have to put everything into context of the time that these events occured… revolt was imminent. There was a social upheaval of the status quo that made the stage right for the civil rights movement to swing into full effect. The context where we find ourselves now is pretty unique, because in the new millennia, we find the attempted upheaval of the status quo being bogged down by special interest groups that tell the people what to think, and when to think it. That’s why our community hasn’t been able to break through to the national arena as effectively as other movements have… but, we’re also in drastic times, with the worst economy since the Depression, international tensions focused solely on us, political cobwebs grinding down the infrastructure of our country’s principles, and on top of that… people deplore discrimination, unless it’s against gays.

My friend and I discussed this part of the issue for quite some time before we were able to meet at a common ground of sorts… what did he honestly expect me to say? “Yea, that’s cool… gays don’t mind missing out on some rights, not worries.” Or, “Who needs all their rights anyway?” Something along those lines I’m sure… it’s fine to differ on opinions as long as there is room for communication and debate. There weren’t too many counterpoints on his part, so I’m pretty sure that he has been enlightened by education. I talked about the social change that needs to occur before we make our move onto the national stage, and I meant it… my friend for quite some time didn’t see this argument my way, and that was news to me. Doesn’t he know that I’m gay? It kind of made me laugh, out of disbelief really… we need to get people educated to the fact that homophobia is wrong, inequality is wrong, and discrimination, above all else, is wrong. I think I won one over for our team, go me!

Our move for equal rights has to take on a grass roots strategy as well as a large scaled one that works within the system… if regular people don’t change their minds about giving us equality, what’s going to make the government change its mind on the issue?

Talk to people that you care about first, and try to get them to see our side of the debate if possible; there aren’t any winners or losers, just people that are willing to share their points of view, regardless if they’re the same or not.

God bless America.